Breakfast at Tiffany's

My high school bestie's wedding is next month and I have the privilege of being her maid of honor.  It was a blast planning her shower with her awesome bridesmaids and, pardon my bragging, but I think it was one of the cutest showers I've attended.  Enjoy the photo dump below.  ;)

The bride-to-be with her mom and soon to be in-laws (Ben's sisters and Tiff's brother's fiancee).  :)

Fun note: Tiff is the only girl in her family (she has two older and two younger brothers) and Ben is the only boy in his (he has two older and two younger sisters).  They are both getting lots of new siblings! :)

The bridal party minus one.  Jaime, me, Tiff, Megan, and Kelly.

Tiff, I hope you had a fabulous time!  It was so much fun planning and celebrating with you.  :)

2015 Resolutions: July Recap

I'm looking at my calendar and trying to figure out what I did this July.  It appears that I spent most of this month at work or at doctor's offices.  

Fun.  

Apparently I also spent a little bit of time working on my goals.  Nothing huge, but here's what I've got for July.

1. Whole30

2. Get (and stay) pregnant
We can start trying again soon.  *fingers crossed!*

3. Quit my job
So technically I didn't quit.  But my tiny will be going to preschool this coming school year so I'll no longer be needed as of the end of this month.  This was definitely a kindness from God as I was planning to quit around this time anyway and now I don't have to have that awkward conversation.  Thank you, Lord. :)

4. Finish two books with Doad
We finally started our second book together.  Technically, we started in August - but I don't care, I'm putting it in the July update.  We are reading Seven by Jen Hatmaker.  I have a feeling it's gonna change us.  And I'm kinda scared and kinda excited all at the same time. 

5. Read 24 books
I did finish books #8 and #9 this month, but that means I have 5 months to read 15 books.  I don't know if I can average 3 a month - yikes!

I kind of went a little random this month, I read a book about haircutting and one about make-up.  I blame wedding season.  It stirs up the cosmetology interest in me every so often.  Here are the links if you're interested:

Scissors and Comb Haircutting: A Cut-by-Cut Guide by Bob Ohnstad

Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beaty, Style, and Success - Online and Off

6. Marriage Conference


7. Cruise/vacation
See this post here for pics and recap!

8. Purple hair
Still purple :)

10. Keep up with Spanish lessons
I did listen to a couple lessons this month, but I am going to have to rethink this routine... or find a new one. The lessons are 30 minutes long and I don't have a commute that long anymore (and soon I won't have a commute at all!!) - it's hard to keep up and remember where I left off because the lessons are always overlapping depending on my driving time.

11. Learn to drive stick shift
So we did practice again and I drove home from the park - only a tiny bit farther than driving home from the pub lol.  We've been meaning to go out again soon.  Perhaps this time I will drive all the way to Walmart! :p

Alrighty, well I'm consistent with the "slow and steady" mentality.  I may not accomplish all of my goals this year, but I will definitely make progress towards them.  I hope this motivates you to keep reaching for your goals too.  Sometimes they happen little by little so the key is to keep moving and never give up.  

What is one thing you can do today to take a step toward your goal?

Let me know in the comments!

Cancun 2015

I'm a little overdue for a vacation recap post, but I wanted to rehash the memories before they're faded and forgotten.  

We left on a Saturday afternoon and at first I was a little disappointed that we would be getting there so late, but it was actually nice to have time to eat breakfast and get to the airport without feeling rushed.  We got to the hotel late, maybe 10 or 11?  We ate a quick snack and of course had some free drinks and then crashed into bed.  

View from our room

 One of my favorite things about the trip was all the creatures we saw.  Particularly, the peafowl.  ;)  They were just roaming about the resort minding their own business, but I thought it was awesome.  Several times in the morning, we came outside after breakfast to see the peacock fanning his feathers.  It was so beautiful and so cool to experience it so closely.

The beach was beautiful and we spent hours each day just lounging and soaking up the sun and watching the people go by... and taking selfies, of course.

The beach is even beautiful at night.

All of the restaurants had beautiful views and delicious food.  The pics below are of our favorite restaurant.  They had scrumptious shrimp tacos that I couldn't stop eating and it was so close to the ocean that we still felt like we were on the beach.

So simple, but SOOOO delicious!

Their octopus sushi was also pretty good!

Our favorite restaurant at night.

Being serenaded at the Mexican restaurant

Besides eating and lounging, we also did an excursion one day.  We got to snorkel with turtles which was the highlight of the day for me.  Unfortunately, we don't have a water camera so there was no picture documentation of that part.  We did get pictures of the rest of the day which included repelling, zip lining, and swimming in a freshwater cave pool!

We're laughing here because the water was SO COLD!

  We had a great week with the perfect blend of adventures and relaxation.

Just looking at this picture makes me feel peaceful and rested. :)

Game time!

 The hardest part about this trip was leaving our sweet Lacey for 8 whole days.  I thought maybe she'd be a little upset with us for leaving her, but from all the snapchats my sister sent me, I don't think she missed us at all!!  She loves her time at my mom's house.  :)

It's always hard to leave a vacation, but it helped to have seeing Lacey again to look forward to.  I don't know if she missed me, but I sure missed her!

 I'm sure you can see why.  ;)

This silly girl brings me so much joy and laughter.

Lucky VS. Blessed

I won a car the other day.

The total value of the prize was a little under $50,000.  I was really excited.  (Don't worry, it was legit.)

Then I found out that I couldn't be eligible for the prize because Maryland has stupid rules about how a sweepstakes can and cannot be run in the state.  From extreme excitement to extreme disappointment in a couple of days. Way to go, Maryland.

Obviously, this is a first world problem.  Doad and I already have cars, three to be exact.  Technically, we have more than we need.  I don't take that for granted.

But I have been thinking a lot about why this happened.  I entered this sweepstakes accidentally.  I would never have known about it if I hadn't won.  If I just hadn't won or hadn't accidentally entered I wouldn't have experienced the disappointment of almost $50,000 slipping through my fingers.  What was the point of all that?

Maybe there is no point, but I think maybe Satan is trying to lure me into a place of discontentment.  

It's hard not to plan and dream about what I would do with an extra pile of cash in your hands - I started making purchases in my mind and feeling that sense of security that more money seems to give.  And then it didn't happen that way,  and it's tempting to feel a sense of loss - even though I haven't really lost anything at all. 

It's a silly, frustrating situation. I don't understand it.  I'm disappointed, but I'm trying not to get all bent out of shape about it.  It was a prize - I'm not entitled to it, and I am content with what I have.  I could surely have put it to good use, but I don't need more.  I have been blessed with so much already.  

So that's what I've been trying to focus on, the good things that are in my life already.  I don't want to miss out on the MANY blessings in my life right now because I'm pouting about ONE blessing that I don't have.  

In this context, an attitude of gratefulness isn't too hard to grasp and embrace.  It becomes difficult for me though, when I transfer this logic to our fertility story.  I want that blessing of a baby (so much!), and while I do believe that someday, somehow I will receive that blessing - it's really easy to miss out on all the richness in my life right now and only focus on the loss.  It's easy to cultivate that discontentment and wish the days away until that baby we are dreaming of and praying for is in our arms. 

But if I don't fight for contentment now and learn to live in these moments, our baby is going to come and I'm going to find something else to be discontent about and miss those moments too.  

I don't know if this is the lesson I was meant to learn in all of this, but as I climb into my 16 year old car with the AC that doesn't work right and the window that doesn't roll down anymore, I'm going to be really tempted to wish it was a 2016 BMW instead.  I can't change my circumstances, but I can change my attitude.  I want to spend my days soaking up the moments with joy and thankfulness, not wishing them away for better days that may or may not come.  

Health Update #4

I don't have tons to update today, but I wanted to let you all know that the HSG test went pretty well.  Thanks for praying with me.  :)

Our follow-up isn't scheduled until the beginning of August, so I can't say for sure, but I feel pretty confident that there are no blockages.  Praise the Lord!  I got to watch the x-ray screen as the dye flowed and it definitely went all the way to the end of my tubes, so at the very least, there are no complete blockages.

The experience in and of itself was also not as terrible as I was anticipating.  Check-in lady was r.u.d.e. and made me want to cry (and maybe I did... a little) but the doctor and nurse actually doing the procedure were very competent and quick and soon it was all over.

I also felt no pain which seemed like a miracle to me.  Every single person I talked to told me to make sure I took some medicine for the pain and that there might be some mild cramping or bleeding.  One lady even told me that she could feel all the dye going in because it burned.  Scary!  (I'm thinking now maybe she had an allergy or sensitivity to the dye.)

On any account, the procedure was painless for me and I attribute that highly to all the prayers that my family and friends were offering up on my behalf.  Thank you!

The next step for me is to get some blood work done and then go to my follow-up in August so we can piece all the test results together and see what our options are.  Hopefully, I will have some more positive news to post soon.